Downing Street has affirmed that Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s position is secure, following queries directed at Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister’s Questions regarding her continued tenure.
Reeves appeared visibly distressed at the session’s outset as Kemi Badenoch scrutinized the Prime Minister’s recent policy reversal on welfare reform, which could potentially disrupt the Chancellor’s budgetary plans.
The Conservative leader suggested that the Chancellor would now be compelled to raise taxes “to compensate for his [the Prime Minister’s] incompetence,” and questioned Sir Keir whether Reeves would remain Chancellor through the next election cycle.
The Prime Minister refrained from dismissing the possibility of future tax increases and did not address the question of Reeves’s job security, instead stating that Badenoch “certainly won’t” hold her current position.
The Conservative leader commented: “How unfortunate for the Chancellor that he was unable to confirm her continued role.”
The Prime Minister’s press secretary promptly emphasized Reeves’s “full backing” from the Prime Minister in a briefing to journalists following the parliamentary session.
When asked why Sir Keir did not publicly affirm his confidence in the Chancellor during the Commons session, the press secretary responded: “He has done so repeatedly.”
“The Chancellor is secure in her role. She has the Prime Minister’s full support.”
When questioned about Sir Keir’s confidence in Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, who was absent from the front bench during PMQs, the press secretary affirmed: “Yes.”
On Tuesday evening, Sir Keir was compelled to withdraw key elements of the government’s welfare reform legislation at the last moment to avert a potential revolt from within his party.
This decision could potentially eliminate savings that Reeves was relying on to meet her objective of funding daily expenditures through tax revenues.
During PMQs, Badenoch remarked that the Chancellor, seated next to Sir Keir on the government front bench, “appears utterly miserable.”
She told the Prime Minister: “Labour MPs are publicly stating that the Chancellor is expendable, and the reality is that she is a human shield for his [the Prime Minister’s] incompetence.”
Reeves was observed wiping away tears during the exchanges. When questioned about her distress, her spokesperson stated: “It’s a personal matter, which—as expected—we will not be discussing.”
However, Badenoch’s spokesperson countered that a “personal matter doesn’t fully explain it,” suggesting that “typically, the nature of the personal matter is disclosed.”
As Reeves departed PMQs, her sister, Ellie Reeves, who is also a Labour MP, took her hand in an apparent gesture of support.
When challenged by Badenoch to rule out tax increases, Sir Keir responded: “No prime minister or chancellor ever approaches the despatch box and drafts future budgets on the spot.”
He asserted that the welfare reform bill would facilitate more people returning to work and attributed welfare issues to Conservative “stagnation.”
Meanwhile, numerous colleagues and allies of Reeves in parliament attribute her distress to an altercation with the Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
Several have accused him of being abrupt with the Chancellor during a meeting prior to PMQs.
This is believed to stem from an interaction during Treasury questions on Tuesday, in which Sir Lindsay requested that she provide more concise answers.
However, none of the sources interviewed by the BBC claim to have personally witnessed the interaction.
The Chancellor’s team has declined to comment. The Speaker’s office has been contacted for comment.
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